Hanover Central High School

Story by Luca Edgemon Leila Dostal is a senior on the cheer team at Hanover Central. Cheering for 7 years has made cheerleading her whole world. Leila is at the gym 6 of 7 days a week, for 3 hours each. There are certain times where she doesn’t get home until 10 pm, yet makes it to school the next morning at 8 am. “There are days I dread going to practice, but then I remember how much cheer has helped me,” she said. Cheer has given Leila some of her best friends, as well as family. She says that cheering takes all of the difficult things in her life away. According to Leila, being crazy is a quality that you have to be in order to love cheerleading. It can destroy your body and your mind. Cheer takes up one’s whole year just for 2 minutes and 30 seconds on a couple thin mats. Leila, though, states that the 2 minutes and 30 seconds are very worth it to her. “Every time I step out on that mat, I make sure to make it the best performance possible. I make it worth it for the crowd, the judges, for the teams wishing they could be in my position,” she claims. Most importantly to Leila, she makes the short time worth it for herself. “Because one day I'll step on those thin mats for the last time.” After high school, Leila wants to continue to cheer. Along with that, acquiring a degree in elementary education and secondary education are her other ideas. “That way, I’ll be able to start out as a second grade teacher and then make my way to high school.” Leila states that if her work in teaching does not get her far, she will instead pursue a degree in nursing. Pediatric nursing to be specific is her main area of interest because she wants to be able to work with children. Then from there, her dream is to move out of Indiana, yet she knows that anything could happen. We wish Leila the best in her future endeavors.